Nicodemus Dalton
Basic overview Nick l4d2 8d by neekol4d-d4p4g3l.jpg L4d-left-4-dead-2-15971732-486-342.jpg Nick.jpg Nickstyle.jpg Cougar.jpg|Nick Dalton's cougar form * Name: Nick "Nicodemus" Dalton, Brings-the-Pack (Bastet/Cougar persona) * Gender: Male * Race: '''Mage * '''Tradition: Orphan * Essence: Dynamic * Rank and Title: Master of Forces * Arete: 5 * Date of Birth: Oct. 25, 1980 * Cabal(s): Jedi Knights (defunct) * Chantry(s): Nightfall Chantry (defunct) "IC" Journal Nick does not actually keep a journal IC, but his player does to help record onscreen events, offscreen activities, and internalized thoughts, opinions, and insights. It's a peek into the mind of a Mage/foil on GarouMush; however, keep in mind that the journal (and this page) are both largely OOC information. Link to journal: http://nick-garou.dreamwidth.org/ (mirrored at http://nick_garou.livejournal.com/). RP hooks Socialites and antiquities dealers: Nick rubs shoulders with local antiquities dealers and some of the local "elite" members of high society at high-end estate auctions and through reselling high-priced antiquities through Kenward's Curios (which is largely an online store these days). Among mages: Nick is the head mage for the city of Saint Claire. In the past few years, he's been gaining more contacts among Mages, who recognize him as excelling at Forces magic, being competent with Mind and Correspondence magic, and having some limited knowledge in all other spheres of magic (which is unusual in itself, but arguably provides him a unique perspective on the nature of magic as a whole and makes him invaluable as an addition to ritual magicks). It's possible that Orphan mages or similarly magically talented misfits might be pointed in Nick's direction for training--and so formal Tradition mages don't have to deal with troublesome upstarts who lack talent. Nick's also known, to a lesser extent, to engage in information, tass, artifact, and talisman trades--and is known in mage circles as having connections to the garou and their lore. He's surprisingly well respected for an Orphan, and even Tradition mages sometimes call him to ask for assistance or training. Among Bastet: Nick has occasionally posed as a Pumonca, Calls-the-Pack. While the act can fool some garou, it's not very effective against other Pumonca or Bastet. Karuvar concluded he was not Pumonca, though Nick didn't reveal his identity, either. Bastet may know that there's /something/ in the area pretending to be a Pumonca but which clearly is not--it's a mystery! Childhood * Born on Oct. 25, 1980 to James and Delores Dalton in St. Claire, Washington. * Parents divorced in 1992. Irreconcilable differences. Bitter court battle over who had to take their kid--not who wanted him. James ended up with custody of Nick in exchange for reduced spousal support to his ex-wife. Delores left the area: her whereabouts are unknown. * James works for SUN microsystems as a traveling salesman and on-site technician, making Nick a very unsupervised latchkey kid. * Nick fell in with the gothic subculture in his teens, acted more and more rebellious without any supervision, and began dabbling in using and selling illegal drugs. * In 1996, Nick accidentally overdosed at a party, died in the ambulance ride to the hospital, and was revived in the hospital's ER. He Awakened as a mage at the age of 15. * He was promptly committed to a mental institution for 2 months after being brought back from the dead and screaming about seeing "horrible ghosts" (spirits) in the hospital. He couldn't initially distinguish between"reality" and what he was seeing in the overlapping spirit world. * After Nick learned to ignore the things he sometimes saw, and denied their existence repeatedly in therapy sessions, he was released back to an empty home. Education, Training, and Certification * 1996--Dropped out of Martin Luther King HS (junior status) after flunking for absenteeism. * 1996--GED obtained. * 2001--Graduated from Saint Claire City University (SCCU) with degrees in Computer Science (emphasis on programming and encryption) and Mathematics (emphasis on theoretical modeling). * 2001--Graduated from Police Academy. * 2007--SWAT training (Failed to complete the course. Broke an arm while rapelling from a building during the latter half of the program.) * 2012--Licensed Private Investigator. Professional experience 1998-Present: Shopkeep for Kenward's Curios, which specializes in rare and unique antiques and books--often acquired through local estate auctions and then resold on a national level. Kenward's Curios is open by appointment only as the overwhelming majority of its transactions are handled through an online store and eBay. The store has a reputation for either having or finding precisely what its overwhelmingly upper-class patrons might be seeking. 1999-2003: Owner of Boutique Gothique, a store that specialized in catering to the goth community and used a profit-sharing model with employees. Closed in 2003 as business began to wane, but before becoming unprofitable. 2001-2006: Police Officer for the SCPD. Traffic patrol, beat cop, and computer crimes/forensics specialist. Promoted to detective. He was nicknamed "Officer Rubber" by his co-workers for his insistence on loading non-lethal rubber bullets into his police sidearm. 2006-2009: Homicide Detective for the SCPD. One of the highest case closure success rates in the dept, which was counterbalanced by an equally impressive record of absenteeism and insubordination. He was nicknamed "Detective Rubber"by his co-workers for his insistence on loading non-lethal rubber bullets into his police sidearm. 2009-2011: Assistant Director of Network Security for Mondobank's regional office in San Francisco, CA. Employment terminated due to unauthorized failure to show up for work or respond to calls/emails for 8 consecutive business days. 2012-Present: Owner of a Private Investigations firm that specializes in locating missing persons, but also has a reputation of being proficient at acquiring/finding incriminating evidence on cheating spouses. 2012-2017: Stock Portfolio Analyst Consultant for Terminus. 2017-present: Freelance photographer, supplying works to iStock.com, mostly of clouds, trails, and streams. Nothing spectacular or noteworthy. Mentor Pavel Vach, Verbena Archmage. Pavel is a self-exiled mage who--as far as Nick knows--rarely leaves his sanctum located in a remote, mountainous, desert highlands area roughly 100 miles outside of Boulder, Colorado. Pavel's power is such that he has a tendency to inadvertently warp reality around him; he has thus become slightly detached from reality (as defined by other people and even some mages). As a result, it's no longer a good idea for him to interact with humans directly; but he is still capable of functioning and interacting with most other mages. He sporadically acts as an broker/fence for the exchange of magical knowledge and goods. In mid-2012, when Nick was looking to trade a large amount of Wyld-charged "bramble fruit" (taken from the bawn, notable for causing radical-but-temporary physical transformations) for a talisman that would grant him access to the spirit world, he was eventually pointed towards Pavel. After the initial exchange, Nick later brought Pavel a gift of even more bramblefruit as a thank you, a good-will gesture, and to further build their relationship. Pavel is not easy for Nick (or others) to contact: his sanctum is heavily warded and he doesn't use a cell phone. Nick's visits/requests have to be made in person, and those require a 40-hour round-trip drive and a wish-and-a-prayer that Pavel happens to be in the right mood (and right frame of mind) to receive visitors. Pavel also heavily overcharges Nick for his services, making any trips to see this Mentor very costly (and occasionally requiring additional, unexpected favors), but Pavel has lots of connections and expertise. Pavel's stats: Arete: 6 Spheres: Life 5, Mind 2, Matter 2, Prime 4, Spirit 4. Backgrounds: Library 3, Contacts 4 (mages who buy/sell/trade things), Allies 3, Sanctum 3, Avatar 2, Destiny 2. Mage-based Contacts (NPCs) Tyler Brown, Akashic Brother, Apprentice of Forces and Mind--San Francisco Tyler and Nick were parkour partners between 2009-2011 while Nick worked at Mondobank in San Francisco. The former acquaintanceship is, at best, now very strained as Tyler partially blames Nick for the death of Evelyn, formerly the most powerful member of Tyler's chantry. Although Tyler contacted Nick asking for assistance in protecting their San Fran chantry from a pending Nephandi attack in March of 2012, Tyler firmly believes that if Nick had acted offensively instead of defensively against the Nephandi threat, Evelyn would still be alive. More recently, Nick has been gaining favor with some of the other members of this chantry. While relations between Nick and Tyler are strained, doors seem to be opening with other chantry members--especially the Cult of Ecstacy. Arete 4--Mind 3, Forces 3, Matter 3, Entropy 1 Raul Marquez, Euthanatos, Disciple of Entropy and Life--Seattle In 1998, when Nick was visiting Seattle, Raul noticed Nick at a nightclub and approached him. The two ended up discussing magical theory, and Raul gave Nick some pointers when he learned Nick was attempting to broaden his knowledge of Entropy. Raul has periodically attempted to recruit Nick into the Euthanatos tradition since then. Recruitment attempts have significantly waned over the past decade with Nick's continued refusals/reluctance. Raul works as a Licensed Practical Nursing temp, cycling through the area's hospitals, bringing a more peaceful death to those whose time has come--or passed. Raul used to operate alone, but now he's the leader of a two-man cabal with a substantially younger Joey Patterson. Arete 3--Forces 3, Entropy 3, Correspondence 2, Matter 2, Spirit 2 Joey Patterson, Akashic Brother, Apprentice of Mind--Seattle Joey works as a bicycle courier in downtown Seattle. Raul introduced Nick to Joey when Raul and Joey needed some assistance in destroying a nest of Sabbat vampires that had set up camp in a suburb. Nick helped to mask the cabal's approach and retreat, and he also incinerated the house after the vampires had been killed, destroying the evidence. Joey later introduced Nick to Walter Hooper, and then asked Nick out (and got turned down). The dynamic between Nick and Joey is friendly but unsurprisingly somewhat awkward. If Nick needs to make contact with a Seattle-based mage, he goes to Raul rather than Joey. Arete 2--Forces 2, Mind 2, Correspondence 2, Life 2, Spirit 1 Walter Hooper, Virtual Adept, Apprentice of Correspondence and Forces--Phoenix, Arizona Walter Hooper is an independent smartphone app developer who's also a big Star Wars fan. When Lucas authorized a Navajo-dubbed release of Episode IV, shown exclusively on a Navajo reservations, Walter was there (virtually) to create the first professional-grade pirated copy, which then led to a huge movie-viewing party for tech-savvy mages interested in the Star Wars series (mostly Virtual Adepts but a few other traditions were present). Nick ended up at the party, hung around for a couple days for the after-party, and got his first taste of the Digital Web under Walter's guidance. Nick, showing off his custom-made, functional lightsaber, was a big hit at the party. Dana, Dreamspeaker, Disciple of Mind and Spirit--Merriweather, Washington Dana is both a Child of Gaia kinfolk and a Dreamspeaker. She used to be in the Jedi Knights cabal with Nick (1997-2005) and Nightfall Chantry (both now defunct), prior to departing for Merriwether, WA. Nick, Dana, and another mage (Doug, a Son of Ether) helped to rescue a pack of garou and their kinfolk from a demon-possessed text the garou found and inadvertently awoke--resulting in the garou pack becoming possessed until the mages broke the spell. There were some tensions between the garou and the mages upon their departure: the mages took the tome despite the garou's protest, pointing out that the garou had already demonstrated their inability to deal with the artifact. (The tome was later destroyed by the garou of the Hidden Walk.) Arete 3--Mind 3, Spirit 3, Correspondence 2, Life 2, Matter 1, Prime 1 Peter Kenward, Order of Hermes, Master of Forces--Saint Claire, Washington Peter is the legal owner of Kenward's Curios. Peter first identified Nick as being a "lost" mage a few months after his awakening. He was briefly Nick's mentor prior to falling into Quiet and insanity after combating a Nephandus mage (Saul ben Isaac) who had been terrorizing the local garou. Peter currently resides in a psychiatric hospital, where he alternates between insanity and comatose states--with ever-so-brief moments of very sporadic lucidity. Nick visits a couple hours once or twice a month to check up on Peter, and Nick also keeps Peter's antiquities business quasi-operational. Arete 5--Forces 5, Life 3, Matter 1, Prime 3, Spirit 3, Time 3 Briar and Shade--a cabal of neophyte Hollow Ones--Portland, Oregon When this cabal of Hollow Ones lost their leader, Dragon, to a fiery paradox backlash, they put out feelers to see if anyone would be willing to mentor them. Behind the scenes, however, was a Toreador vampire who'd blood-bonded them all (Vlad first, who then tricked the others) and began using them as a weapon to kill her enemies. The Toreador tried to use the cabal to ensnare Nick as Dragon's replacement, but Nick caught on and ended up killing the vampire, freeing the cabal from her blood bond and Presence mesmerization--and earning the cabal's gratitude. That gratitude does not benefit Nick very much, though. The Hollow Ones are all relatively new mages who lack experience (though they do have potential when doing ritualized magic as their teaching of the spheres has been very incestuous). Nick's attempting to provide guidance and keep these teenage mages out of trouble by serving as their Mentor. In return, as payment, they're sharing half the tass from their 1-point node (which means 1 point of quintessence every other month for Nick)--and no more knowingly associating with vampires. In June of 2015, Vlad became Nephandi, tried to cause trouble for the Portland chantry while implicating Briar and Shade, got caught, and was executed after a tribunal organized by the chantry. Nick was berated for not being more active in mentoring his two apprentices, but the chantry seemed reluctant to go any further with accusations or punishments as Nick was the only Master-level mage present--and it's generally not a good idea to piss off a master of Forces. Briar--Arete 3, Correspondence 1, Forces 2, Prime 1, Spirit 2, Life 3 Shade--Arete 2, Correspondence 1, Forces 2, Prime 1, Spirit 2, Matter 2 Supernatural activities in Saint Claire Nick is generally an extremely low-key figure, preferring to operate quietly from the shadows rather than loudly in the open. He's been stealthily involved in countless local matters and skirmishes for nearly two decades, but less from the sidelines and more from lurking hidden beneath the bleachers. (For example, he recently rendered all the silver bullets in a BSD pack's inventory inert, so none of the bullets fired in a subsequent raid by the garou. Val, via Nick's suggestion, claimed credit for this act. During the raid, Nick remotely "jinxed" a number of BSDs, reducing the harm they were able to inflict upon the sept's garou.) Nick does not advertise his status or abilities as a mage to the local garou--preferring to be "just another kinfolk" to the garou and "just another human" to the masses. He's a little paranoid about remaining unnoticed. That said, there are a couple garou who know of his true nature as a mage--notably Salem and Mouse. Val also knows he is a mage, so a number of other corax in the region are aware of his hidden identity. Glass Walker "kinfolk" In early 2012, Mouse introduced Nicodemus to the Glass Walkers as being lost kinfolk. Although not ICly known, this is a fabrication concocted by Mouse, Salem, and Nick to allow him an easier means of working with and aiding the Glass Walkers and local garou--as well as affording the mage some protection. In 2013, Mouse supplied Nick with a complete, fabricated paperwork trail linking him to a family of formerly lost kinfolk in Spokane, WA. He has a very spartan studio apartment on the 3rd floor of the Walker safehouse. Category:Mages Category:Present PCs